X heucherella plant named &#39;birthday cake&#39;

ABSTRACT

A new and distinct cultivar of × Heucherella  plant characterized by its mounding habit, chocolate colored, cut and ruffled leaves, and creamy flowers in candle-like spikes.

BOTANICAL CLASSIFICATION

×Heucherella

CULTIVAR DENOMINATION

‘Birthday Cake’

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a new and distinct intergeneric hybrid between Heuchera and Tiarella, or ×Heucherella, and given the cultivar name ‘Birthday Cake’. Both genera, Heuchera and Tiarella, are of the family Saxifragaceae.

This new cultivar originated from crossing a group of selected Heuchera hybrids with massed pollen from a group of selected Tiarella hybrids. The specific parent plants are unknown.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This new Heucherella is characterized by:

-   -   1. Small, chocolate colored, ruffled and deeply cut leaves.     -   2. Creamy white flowers on brown peduncles, rising above the         foliage like birthday candles.     -   3. Mounding habit.     -   4. Excellent vigor.

The new variety has been reproduced only by asexual propagation (division and tissue culture). Each of the progeny exhibits identical characteristics to the original plant. Asexual propagation by division and tissue culture using standard micropropagation techniques with terminal and lateral shoots as done in Canby, Oreg., shows that the foregoing characteristics and distinctions come true to form and are established and transmitted through succeeding propagations. The present invention has not been evaluated under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary with variations in environment without a change in the genotype of the plant.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

The photograph shows a two year old plant of the new variety growing in the trial field in Canby, Oreg.

DETAILED PLANT DESCRIPTION

The following is a detailed description of the new ×Heucherella hybrid based on observations of two-year-old specimens grown in the field in the ground in full sun under typical outdoor conditions in Canby, Oreg. Canby is Zone 8 on the USDA Hardiness map. Temperatures range from a high of 95 degrees F. in August to 32 degrees F. in January. Normal rainfall in Canby is 42.8 inches per year. The color descriptions are all based on The Royal Horticultural Society Colour Chart.

-   Botanical name: ×Heucherella. -   Cultivar name: ‘Birthday Cake’. -   Plant:     -   -   Type.—Herbaceous perennial.         -   Form.—Basal rosette.         -   Hardiness.—USDA Zone 5.         -   Size.—17 cm tall from the ground to the top of the foliage             and 40 cm wide.         -   Vigor.—Excellent.         -   Roots.—Fibrous, freely branching, fine, and white in color.             Roots develop easily from cuttings. -   Leaf:     -   -   Type.—Simple.         -   Arrangement.—Rosette.         -   Shape.—Broadly ovate.         -   Lobing/division.—3 to 5 lobed parted, with terminal cut             almost to the petiole, with each lobe also lobed two to             three times.         -   Venation.—Palmate.         -   Margins.—Deeply crenate and ruffled.         -   Apex.—Acute.         -   Base.—Cordate and sometimes overlapping.         -   Blade size.—Ranges from 6 to 7 cm long and 5.5 to 6 cm wide.         -   Surface texture.—Soft with glandular hairs.         -   Petiole size.—Ranges from 10 to 11 cm long and 2 mm wide.         -   Petiole surface.—Glandular hairs.         -   Petiole color.—Greyed Orange 176A.         -   Leaf color.—Topside: Brown, closest to Brown 200B and             darkening at main veins to Brown 200A. Bottom side:             Burgundy, closest to Greyed Purple 187A, but lighter. -   Inflorescence:     -   -   Type.—Thyrse.         -   Number of thryse in first flush in spring.—25 to 40.         -   Number of flowers.—Ranges from 50 to 70 per thyrse, on top 8             cm of peduncle.         -   Peduncle.—Unbranched with 1 to 2 small leaves. Height —             35 cm. Diameter — 0.25 cm. Color — Burgundy to brown, Greyed             Purple 183B to Greyed Orange 165A. Surface texture —             Glandular hairs.         -   Pedicel.—Length — to 0.4 cm. Surface texture — Glandular             hairs. Color — Greyed Purple 187B.         -   Bloom period.—May to June in Canby, Oreg. -   Flower Bud:     -   -   Size.—0.2 cm deep and 0.2 cm wide.         -   Description.—Oblong, downfacing, glandular pubescent.         -   Color.—Tan, Greyed Orange 165C. -   Flower:     -   -   Type.—Complete, sepals petaloid.         -   Shape.—Rotate.         -   Flower size.—0.4 cm wide and 0.4 cm deep.         -   Petals.—5, inconspicuous, Yellow White 158A on inner and             outer surfaces, spatulate in shape, size is 1.5 mm deep and             0.7 mm wide, margins are entire, apex is acute.         -   Calyx.—Petaloid, rotate in shape, 4 mm wide and 2 mm deep             divided ½ way to the base, with glandular hairs, sepal lobes             are ovate with an acute apex, margins entire, cream-colored,             Yellow White 158A on both surfaces, slightly duller on back             surface.         -   Stamen.—5 in number, sterile, filaments of Yellow White 158A             are 3 mm deep terminated with oval, flattened anthers, 0.1             mm wide and 0.15 mm deep, no pollen produced.         -   Pistil.—1,5 mm long and 2.5 mm wide, Yellow White 158A             overall, ovoid and 2-beaked, each beak is 1 mm long             terminated in a narrow stigma.         -   Fragrance.—None.         -   Lastingness.—A thyrse blooms for about 2 weeks on the plant. -   Fruit and seed: None. The plant does not form fruit or seed.     -   -   Fertility.—Sterile. -   Disease and pest tolerance: Excellent disease resistance to Heuchera     rust and powdery mildew. Heucherella are susceptible to root     weevils.

COMPARISONS TO SIMILAR ×HEUCHERELLA

Compared to Heucherella ‘Burnished Bronze’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 12,159), this new cultivar has smaller, lighter, more divided and ruffled leaves as well as cream rather than pink to white flowers.

Compared to Heucherella ‘Chocolate Lace’ (U.S. Plant Patent Application No. 10/079,438), the new cultivar has more vigor, a rounder, more mounding habit, ruffled leaves instead of unruffled, and cream rather than white flowers. 

1. A new and distinct cultivar of ×Heucherella plant as herein illustrated and described 